Thank you for the warm introduction and I acknowledge all of the people who have put this amazing event together, including the Global Institute of Women in Leadership and the Hatchery.
To Cath Jules and Andrew Savage and your team, thank you – it’s a huge effort that goes into making an event like this run smoothly.
I’d also like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to elders past and present.
I extend that respect to all First Nations people joining us today.
And in particular, I acknowledge the strength and leadership of First Nations women in Australia who are leaders in their communities, holders of knowledge and constant advocates for equality.
Thank you to the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and the Hatchery for bringing us together at the Women UNLIMITED Leadership Summit at this important time.
And it’s great to see so many of you here – you are the future leaders of this country and, in particular, in the work that I do around driving gender equality.
It’s a privilege to be here in a room full of women who have shaped, and continue to shape, the story of women’s leadership, of equality and of progress in Australia and around the world.
The speaker’s list at this event is unbelievable!
So many amazing women – some firsts in their field – who are coming to share, to inspire and importantly to prepare the next generation of women leaders.
Today I’m going to focus my remarks on the continued pursuit of equality and why in these moments when we actively feel the pushback happening, having some history, context and perspective around the fight for gender equality is important.
Now one of the biggest privileges of my role as Australia’s Minister for Women is the opportunity to talk to and hear from women right across this vast nation at community events, in schools, in workplaces, and gatherings like this one.
And let me say that women aren’t usually backwards in coming forwards and being frank with me about what’s working, what isn’t and what government could do better.
Whilst many of these conversations are generally optimistic in nature, there is a rising sense of unease, particularly amongst women of my generation, worried about some of the trends they’re seeing around them and reading about – especially online with rising harassment and disrespect, the resurgence of outdated and misogynistic views being peddled to young people, and a constant feeling of pushback against gender equality.
Some women ask, how do we make sure that everything that’s been fought for over decades won’t be lost? How do we keep moving forward, especially when the times feel so uncertain, so unpredictable?
I have two ways that I generally answer these questions:
First, that we keep showing up, we never retreat.
And second, that we understand that progress is never linear, it’s never been one-way traffic, it’s not inevitable and without vigilance and commitment, the gains that were so hard fought for can be lost very quickly.
Every gain for women – every right, every reform, every inch of ground – was fought for and won often after decades of campaigning and almost always in the face of, and despite fierce resistance.
None of it happened by accident or happenstance.
Change happened because women organised and built community campaigns across Australia and indeed across the world.
And it’s important to remember that the campaign for equality is never finished – it’s incomplete, as women and girls everywhere continue to face discrimination and barriers to equality in almost every area of life.
If we look specifically in my patch in the political world, in Australia the journey toward women’s suffrage was only achieved after decades of determined campaigning.
Australia was proudly one of the first nations in the world to grant women both the right to vote and the right to stand for election when the Commonwealth Franchise Act passed in 1902 – with, of course, one significant omission of First Nations men and women who were not granted the option to vote until 1962.
This campaign was a story of solidarity, setbacks and persistence across politics, the union movement, the women’s movement, and importantly via community advocacy.
South Australia had, of course, led the way eight years earlier in delivering women the vote in 1894.
That State was also was home to a young Muriel Matters – an Australian woman who, on arriving in London in 1905 and discovering that women couldn’t vote (something she’d already done twice back in South Australia) couldn’t believe it and so joined the suffragette movement to set about changing that.
In 1908, her activism reached new heights when she chained herself to the brass grille in the Ladies’ Gallery of the House of Commons and began delivering a speech through her loudhailer to the men below.
When authorities took away her megaphone, she used her theatrical training (she was a musician) to project her voice across the chamber.
And when the grille was removed, the gallery technically became part of the Commons and Muriel, therefore, became the first woman to “speak” in the House of Commons.
She continued campaigning and even a short stint in prison failed to stop her.
When she was released, she wrote to the King demanding that the vote for women be placed on parliament’s agenda.
When her request was ignored, Muriel hired an airship emblazoned with “Votes for Women” and “Women’s Freedom League” with plans to hit the Parliament with 56 pounds of suffrage pamphlets while delivering a speech from above.
Bad weather and a weak motor meant she didn’t reach Westminster, but she did spend over an hour floating over London at 3,500 feet, scattering leaflets across the city and making headlines around the world.
I love Muriel’s story because it reminds us that change never comes easily and that bravery, persistence and perseverance are at the heart of all social progress – not just for women but across the board.
And it also reminds us that vigilance is always required – let us never take our eyes off the North Star or take for granted any wins along the way.
Back home, you only need to go back around 50 years to understand the progress that has been made here in our fight for equality.
Women couldn’t get a bank loan, then, without a male guarantor.
And before 1970 employers were legally permitted to pay women 25% less than men’s wages for the same work.
Married women travelling overseas couldn’t fill out their own quarantine forms.
And if you worked in the public service – as I know many of you in the audience today do – you lost your job if you got married.
Women weren’t allowed to drink in public until women changed that in the 1960s.
The campaign for Equal Pay was powered by women who demanded change.
The Women’s Electoral Lobby forced politicians to answer hard questions about childcare, contraception, and equal pay – fighting to be in the room and at the table where decisions are made.
Their advocacy led to Elizabeth Reid’s historic appointment as the world’s first women’s adviser to Prime Minster Whitlam.
And we are so fortunate to have Elizabeth living here in Canberra with us.
From Elizabeth and the Whitlam Government’s work came action: Single mothers’ payments, community childcare, no-fault divorce, the Family Court.
Big structural changes to give women a better deal.
In 1974, another great example of grassroot women’s activism came with a group of Sydney feminists, led by Dr Anne Summers, who claimed squatters’ rights on two vacant houses in Glebe.
They changed the locks, painted ‘Women’s Refuge’ across the front, and opened their doors to women and children escaping violence.
It was the first of many, but the first refuge of its kind in Australia and the work was dangerous.
Anne and her colleagues faced constant backlash.
As she writes in her memoir, “One morning I found flung across the windscreen of my car a life-size plastic sex doll …”
She was alarmed, she writes, “not because this tawdry piece of plastic could hurt me but because whoever put it there could.”
Again, I had a meeting just last week with Anne Summers who continues her activism in the pursuit of gender equality.
This pattern – progress meeting backlash – was as present then as it is now.
But, at every stage women kept showing up, organising for a better deal and moving forward against the resistance.
In the 1980s Susan Ryan successfully introduced and passed the Sex Discrimination Act and pioneered gender-responsive budgeting – a world first at the time.
And in 2022 Labor reintroduced gender responsive budgeting, some 40 years later.
And when Labor introduced affirmative action for women candidates in the 1990s –moving incrementally to targets of 35%, then 40%, 45%, and now 50% -- the headlines were brutal:
“Backing Quotas Will Come to Haunt Keating,” they screamed.
One journalist even warned that more women in parliament would mean more time spent on “the concerns and aspirations of women.”
Well, some 30 years later I am very happy to confirm for that journalist that's exactly what's happened!
Between 1994 and 2010 the preselection of Labor women candidates increased from just 14.5% to just over 35%.
And from 2010 onwards we did even better, changing the parliament forever in the process.
It took 122 years for Australia to get its first majority women federal government in 2022.
This was followed up with the first gender equal cabinet in 2025 – one that I’m very proud to serve in.
And 57% of our caucus is now made up of women MPs and Senators from right across Australia.
Now, I have been fortunate to be appointed both the Minister for Finance and Minister for Women since the Albanese Government was elected in 2022.
This dual appointment has put the pursuit of gender equality firmly at the centre of government.
Along with the PM, the Treasurer and my cabinet colleagues we have been able to deliver some long overdue reform:
- Expanded paid parental leave.
- Paying super on that leave.
- Record investments in early childhood education, including in early childhood educators’ wages and getting rid of the punitive activity test.
- We've funded cheaper access to contraceptives and menopause treatment and finally begun the hard work of dealing with women’s health reforms to make the health system work better for women.
- We’ve invested more than $4 billion in actions to end the crisis of violence against women and children in a generation and another $4 billion in funding the community legal centre system permanently.
- We increased workplace protections against sexual harassment, delivered pay rises for aged care and community sector workers, and put gender equality at the heart of our workplace relations system.
You’ve probably heard politicians work through lists things that they’ve delivered, but my point here is broader – even though the pushback is real and as women and leaders, we feel the heavy weight of that on our shoulders – there are significant, practical, structural reforms that are getting done right now.
The pushback against the pushback.
But there is always more to do and if history has taught us anything, it’s that progress is never achieved easily.
It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said that the arc of the moral universe is long but bends towards justice.
But as Ruth Bader Ginsburg added, only “if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion.”
So, what is needed now to continue progress towards equality?
Well, in short, we keep going.
We keep pressing on.
History is littered with examples of successful campaigns for women’s rights but none of them were achieved without significant pushback.
We need:
Presence – we keeping showing up.
Participation – we get involved don’t leave it to others.
Persistence – we never give up.
Perseverance – we stay the course.
And vigilance – we never let our guard down… Eyes on people.
Now I don’t want to sound like I am diminishing the challenges we face.
Underestimating pushback would be a big mistake.
But acknowledging it’s always been there in various forms reminds us to stay focused on our North Star – equality for all.
And, as we keep our eyes on those who seek to bend the arc of reform away from justice, we get on with making the difference we can deliver now.
For the Albanese Government that means to build on what we achieved in our first term.
We will use every lever available to us as a government to create a gender equal Australia.
This includes ensuring that our own systems (tax, child support, social security) don't harm women and children in the delivery of them.
In Australia, I think there is broad and enduring support for a gender-equal society.
There’s recognition of the importance of women having the same rights and opportunities as men and there’s a widespread understanding that fairness actually benefits everyone, regardless of gender.
I’m an optimist – I think you have to be in politics.
And I know that together we can change things for the better – that’s why I’m here.
I’m not deterred by big work and judging by the energy and the faces in this room, neither are you.
Because we’ve seen what happens when women work together.
We get thousands of small moments that, over time, add up to the kind of big change that later looks inevitable.
History shows us that backlash and resistance have always been part of that story, too.
But they’re not the end of the story.
It’s over to us to write that next chapter.
Because my daughters and your daughters and their daughters are depending on us getting this right.